Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal sentence of intellectually disabled man who twice blackmailed and raped young girl

A SUSPENDED sentence given to a man who twice blackmailed and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl is too lenient, prosecutors argue — and they will appeal the “manifestly inadequate” sentence in the Supreme Court.

THE suspended sentence handed to a rapist who twice abused a 14-year-old girl after blackmailing her is too lenient, prosecutors will argue.

The Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed this week they have launched a Supreme Court appeal against the sentence of the 21-year-old man in the state’s South East.

The man pleaded guilty to guilty to possessing and disseminating child exploitation material as well as two counts of rape against his 14-year-old victim who he met over Snapchat.

However District Court Judge Gordon Barrett decided to suspend the three year, six month sentence, citing the man’s borderline intellectual disability and clean criminal record as reasons to spare him prison.

But the Director of Public Prosecution reviewed the sentencing remarks and decided to appeal.

The man convinced his female victim to send him naked photographs in early 2017.

He then started blackmailing her, saying she had to make a deal with him or he would send the photos to her family.

In January 2017, he sent two of the photos to the victim’s older sister in an attempt to blackmail the older sibling into having sex with him.

When that failed, he sent threatening messages to his 14-year-old victim before coercing her into his car.

He drove to the outskirts of a town, near a cemetery, and forced her to have sex with him.

“Whenever she told you that she did not want to do something sexual with you reminded her of the photographs that you had,” Judge Barrett said.

“The girl was too frightened to tell anyone about what you were doing.”

The man blackmailed her into having sex with him again on another occasion.

When the offending came to light and he was arrested, the man lied to police by claiming not to know the victim.

However, he eventually entered a guilty plea in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court.

Judge Barrett said he had “some hesitation” in suspending the sentence.

“There remains the difficult question of suspension,” Judge Barrett said.

“Ordinarily it would be quite unthinkable to suspend the sentence of someone who had pleaded guilty to two counts of rape of a 14-year-old girl and effectively blackmailed her with photographs in the way you did.”

The Supreme Court will hear the application to appeal the sentence next week.